Use this reference to find classic XLS automation and the expanded XLSX facade, including workbook, worksheet, range, formatting, image, page setup, hyperlink, name, chart, table, validation, filter, view-state, and export APIs
Classic XLS and expanded XLSX API, guide, and Pascal example topics are available directly in the web help
Nine differentiators, the supporting evidence, and the audiences HotXLS is built for — on one page: no Excel/Office/COM dependency, pure native Pascal, six formats, a formula engine, AES-NI encryption, streaming and thread-safe I/O
Read the core selling pointsStart with the dedicated lxHandleX facade for Excel 2007+ workbooks, worksheet collections, styles, shared strings, defined names, and OOXML save/open workflows
Use XLSX ranges, formulas, whole-range or merge-across merged cells, loaded-cell scan/write helpers, text find/replace, hyperlinks, comments, images, tables, charts, conditional formatting, data validation, frozen panes, and auto-filter criteria
TXLSXWorksheet classLoad .ods workbooks through Open or OpenODS, save ODS output with SaveAsODS, tune exports with TODSExportOptions, and round-trip styles, images, charts, validations, conditional formats, print setup, and sheet structure
Add Data Bar, Color Scale, and Icon Set rules on both BIFF8 and XLSX with shared spec classes, DXF Style overrides for font/fill/weight, theme color round-trip, formula-based threshold round-trip, per-stop icon overrides, icon threshold include/exclude control, and cfRule priority pinning
TCondFormat referenceProgrammatically build chart tabs into a .xls workbook with Sheets.AddChartSheet — column, bar, line, and pie chart kinds, with title, axis titles, and series bound to A1-range references
Attach Excel ListObject tables to a range via AddTable, opt into compact shared-formula output, or generate Excel-compatible password-protected .xls files through the EncryptionPassword property. Excel-authored workbook sharing and revision-protection metadata, including FILESHARING, FILESHARING2, PROT4REV, and PROT4REVPASS, now survives classic XLS open/save cycles. Workbook view and extension globals such as HIDEOBJ, zero-length TEMPLATE, TABID, and BOOKEXT are preserved as well. Excel Custom View blocks (USERSVIEWBEGIN / USERSVIEWEND) are preserved in workbook globals and worksheet substreams too
Address cell fill, font, and per-edge border colors through the 12 Office theme slots with optional tint via SetThemeColor, or write exact RGB through the XFExt $087D rich-color side record so Excel 2007+ reopens with the literal color while Excel 97-2003 still sees the indexed palette approximation. Drawings (shapes, chart fills) follow through the XlsApplyThemeColorToDrawing / XlsGetDrawingThemeColor helper pair with same-process round-trip, and expert shape code can inspect or edit raw OfficeArt FOPT PIDs through TXLSShape.OfficeArtOptions
Per-sheet tab colors round-trip through the BIFF8 SheetExt ($0862) record via TXLSWorksheet.TabColor, header / footer background images survive load and save through the HFPicture ($0866) record family, and Excel-authored even / first page text survives through the BIFF8 HeaderFooter ($089C) record
Shared-string per-character font / color runs and Far-East phonetic annotations (furigana) survive load and save: the parser preserves rgRun and rgExtRst trailing blocks per unique string, and the writer re-emits them when the record fits one BIFF chunk
Create, open, style, automate, and export Excel 2007+ .xlsx workbooks through the dedicated OOXML API surface
Create, open, save, protect, calculate, and export Excel workbooks through the main workbook interface, including saved-by metadata, file-sharing metadata preservation, and pivot cache inspection
IXLSWorkbook interfaceCreate typed classic XLS pivot tables, inspect Excel-authored pivot workbooks, preserve raw pivot records, and configure field axes, subtotals, page filters, and data-field number formats
Classic XLS pivot table APIPreserve FILESHARING, FILESHARING2, PROT4REV, PROT4REVPASS, HIDEOBJ, zero-length TEMPLATE, TABID, BOOKEXT, USERSVIEWBEGIN, USERSVIEWEND, and saved-by metadata when classic XLS workbooks pass through HotXLS
Manage sheets, ranges, page breaks, display settings, shapes, formulas, and sheet-level output, including range-based shape cleanup through TXLSShapes.DeleteInRange, loaded-cell scanning through TXLSWorksheet.ForEachCell, callback-based range writing through TXLSWorksheet.WriteCells, one-call filter setup through TXLSWorksheet.ApplyAutoFilter, and filter criteria inspection through AutoFilterColumns
Read and write values, formulas, rows, columns, borders, alignment, merging, grouping, formatting, and selected-range HTML fragments
IXLSRange interfaceReview the ThemeColor, TintAndShade, and classic XLS palette-based formatting decision
Classic XLS color modelExport DBGrid content to Excel with header, detail, grouping, formatting, and event hooks
TGridToXLS componentExport datasets to workbooks with field selection, worksheet naming, group styling, and save helpers
TDataToXLS componentExport DevExpress TcxGridDBTableView data with workbook targeting, grouped output, formatting controls, and export events when the optional cxGrid unit is added to a project
Open sample workflows for purchase orders, grouped exports, images, and common workbook automation
Example topicsReview the HTML version history for HotXLS classic XLS, expanded XLSX, export, compatibility, and documentation updates in multiple languages
Open release notes